


Puzzle Pieces

by PrepSchoolAda



Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human
Genre: A little angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Memories, Memory Related, Non-Linear Narrative, Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Post-Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, RK Family, Wedding Fluff, bisexual north, sapphic ada
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26759443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrepSchoolAda/pseuds/PrepSchoolAda
Summary: In exactly one week, Ada is going to marry North, the woman she's been incredibly and annoyingly in love with for nearly two years now. She's elated beyond words, and can't wait to share the special day with all of her friends and chosen family.It would be the absolute worst time for Ada to start having a bunch of memory glitches that would directly affect her relationship with North, so it's extremely inconvenient when that exact thing happens.
Relationships: Ada (Detroit: Evolution) & Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Markus, Ada (Detroit: Evolution) & Gavin Reed, Ada/North, Background Echo | Blue-Haired Traci/Ripple | Blue-Haired Traci's Girlfriend, Background Hank Anderson/Connor, Background Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human), Background Tina Chen (Detroit: Become Human)/Valerie Morales-Chen, Background Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed, Josh & Markus & North & Simon (Detroit: Become Human), Original Chloe | RT600 & North
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. December 5th 2041 - 7 Days Until the Wedding [Ada]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KarinaMay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarinaMay/gifts), [SweetInsanityWrites (SweetInsanityArts)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetInsanityArts/gifts).



> WOOAAAAAH I'M BACK
> 
> so i had this idea for a non linear telling of Adanorth enemies to lovers about a month ago and now I'm trying to write it I guess? i haven't planned it in full I'm just gonna wing it. which someone is gonna put on my tombstone probably
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> gifted to Sweets and Isa because they gifted the world with that beautiful Adanorth cosplay shoot this weekend!

Ada's eyes fluttered open and she embraced her favourite part of the day; the disorientation upon exiting stasis. In that moment, she got to experience the uneasy sensation of not quite knowing who she was, where she was, or whose arms were wrapped around her. What followed was the most beautiful, instantaneous rush of recollections: she was Ada, the only RK100 model in existence. She was in an apartment in the city of Detroit that she shared with her fiancee, and the arms that were enveloping her in a warm embrace belonged to North, the WR400 android who had stolen her heart that she was going to marry in a week.

Ada's whole body relaxed as she savoured this rare moment of quiet. Everything had been so hectic lately. Who knew that marriage required so much planning? North and Ada had always sworn to each other; a simple ceremony with close friends and family only. When Ada had told Nines about this he'd actually guffawed. He'd _guffawed_. Ada had taken offence at the time but now she knew exactly what was so amusing. Apparently Markus, Connor and Nines had all wanted small, simple ceremonies. Then somewhere in among the venue booking, invitation drafting and hiring a caterer, they'd ended up with guests in the triple-digits and a huge party that they didn't enjoy nearly as much as their acquaintances' plus ones. Ada had initially thought this was a curse that only affected RKs, but apparently this happened to a lot of people, even Echo and Ripple. 

Ada had hoped she and North would be different. No such luck; their small simple ceremony was doomed the moment Ada had said, "yeah, we can let our work friends invite plus ones, the more the merrier. Oh, and maybe they can have plus ones too! Oh come on, North, don't look at me like that, it's gonna be fine". It was not. North still teased her about this remark.

Ada slowly shuffled around in place to face her fiancee, careful to keep herself firmly in North's embrace. She smiled upon seeing North. She wasn't doing anything spectacular, and she didn't need to be. Seeing her just sent sparks of warmth through every single one of Ada's biocomponents. 

"Hey," Ada whispered, pushing North's bangs out of her eyes as she came out of stasis. "Good morning, beautiful."

North groaned slightly. "That's kinda gay."

"I'm completely heterosexual and that engagement ring of yours proves it," teased Ada, curling her arm around North's waist as she giggled. "So - 10574 minutes to go until the big day."

North raised an eyebrow. "God, you're a nerd."

Ada gave North her cheekiest smile, knowing for a fact it would make her paramour weak at the knees. True to Ada's prediction, North gave a soft laugh and averted her eyes for just a moment. How could Ada still give her butterflies after all this time?

"We should get up, time for work," said Ada softly, her thumb stroking North's hip.

North bit her lip. "Counterargument: we could stay here forever and ignore all incoming calls to our HUDs."

Ada snorted. "You make a strong case, but I fear the pros of snuggling with you all day don't quite outweigh the cons of being fired. Not by much, anyway."

"First of all, I didn't say we should snuggle all day," said North, inching closer to Ada. "I said we should snuggle forever." Ada rolled her eyes dramatically but made no attempt to leave the bed.

"Second, if I may present another counterargument..."

North cupped Ada's cheek, leaned forward and kissed her gently. Ada smiled against North's lips as she deepened the kiss, slipping a hand under North's shirt and pulling her closer. 

After several minutes of North presenting Ada with some admittedly very strong evidence to support her case, Ada finally pulled away.

"Seriously, you're adorable, but we gotta get moving," Ada murmured, disentangling herself from North's embrace and doing her best to hide her grin.

"Ugh, fine," said North, sliding out of bed along with Ada. "Anything exciting on the agenda for you today?"

"Well, I'm not gonna be around for the final class for this block of students because I'll be very busy marrying you, so probably a lot of goodbyes from some very tearful clients," said Ada, trying to sound lighthearted. It didn't do much to conceal the bittersweetness in her voice from North. 

"We can move the wedding forward or back or however you like it if you wanna be around for the last class before Christmas," said North as she pulled her outfit of choice from her chest of drawers. She was entirely serious and it made Ada melt.

"I... don't think you realise how much extra planning that would entail," chuckled Ada as she changed into her cape-shirt of choice for the day.

North shrugged. "Sure I do. But it would be worth it to see you happy."

Ada tilted her head slightly. "Now _that's_ kinda gay."

North reached over and playfully shoved Ada as hard as she could with her hand, which wasn't much because she'd grossly overestimated the length of her arm in that moment. 

"Get to work before I call off the wedding, nerd," teased North, though her entire mind was saying, _Please stay here today, I'll call in sick, I'll tell Markus we both caught highly contagious android flu. I can't wait to be married to you, holy shit I can't wait to be your wife, please stay here today_. She didn't vocalise it, though. She never did. Ada knew it was how she felt anyway.

*

"Hey Ada, you just made it!" said Echo playfully as Ada entered the building. Ada smiled, not quite meeting Echo's eyes.

"What can I say? My future wife likes to cuddle," said Ada coyly, following Echo to the staff room. 

"Never took North for a cuddler," chuckled Echo. "Then again, I didn't take her for a lot of things before she met you."

Ada smiled from ear to ear, bowing her head to conceal it on impulse. She heard that a lot; from Markus, Simon, Josh, Echo, Ripple and pretty much anyone who was close with North. They all marvelled at how Ada had managed to tame the wild, violent beast that was North, the scary old WR400 that wanted to burn down Capitol Park and kill all the humans, showing no mercy and taking no prisoners. When asked what her secret was, the answer was quite simple: North, at her core, wasn't any of those things. Though all North's friends loved her, Ada was the only one who had seen that from the beginning. Well, almost the beginning.

"Hey, you want me to do any extra before the wedding?" said Ada when they arrived at the staff room and noticed Echo immediately surveying the rotas for next week. "I'm very aware that I'm dragging you and Ripple away from work on the last day of class, I'm happy to make up for it"-

"Ada, please, it's the last day of class, they'll all be goofing off anyway," chuckled Echo, flicking the switch on the thirium coffee maker. "You don't have to do that."

**"You don't have to do this," whispered Nines, crouched on the floor of Ada's lair, a fist firmly pressed against the ground. A fist that had originally been intended for Ada's face.**

Ada visibly flinched, and Echo noticed.

"Hey, you okay?" said Echo affectionately. Echo had one of those voices that could soothe anyone in any situation, and thankfully it was working on Ada in that instance.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," said Ada brightly, though somewhat unconvincingly. That had been so strange. It was like she was back in the warehouse with Nines before he'd turned her deviant, preparing to go through him to get to her new android body, willing to do anything to achieve her ever-unattainable goal of evolution.

Echo narrowed her eyes, studying Ada's face. "Okay... you take two sugars, right?"

"What?"

"In your thirium cappuccino, Ada," said Echo.

"Oh, right, yeah," said Ada, smiling with too many teeth and sitting down at the table. She didn't have much time to process what had happened, however, as a knock at the door and a familiar yet surprising face interrupted her.

"Josh!" Ada's voice cracked as she looked up. "Is everything okay"-

"Heeeey, future Mrs North!" said Josh, grinning and hugging Ada, completely oblivious to her current mood. "Okay, real quick. If I hypothetically forgot to get you guys a wedding gift and was on my way to the retail park right now to get one, would you have any preferences?"

"Josh!" yelped Echo, though she looked thoroughly amused.

"I've been busy preparing my big speech, okay?" teased Josh. "But seriously, Ada, I'm sorry. I can't believe I forgot."

"Josh, it's fine," sighed Ada. "You know North and I don't care about that stuff."

"Hey, are you alright?" said Josh carefully, kneeling down next to Ada. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," said Ada, far too quickly, clenching her fists on the table. Echo placed Ada's cappuccino gently in front of her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, pre-wedding jitters are totally normal," said Echo gently. 

"Yeah, I ever tell you what Simon was like before his?" laughed Josh. "He had this huge freak out over what bow tie to wear, like Markus would even care. But no, he was still going out of his god damned mind"-

**"You're out of you're god damned mind!" Ada could hear a female voice yelling from Markus's office as she approached the door. "She killed our people! _Our_ people, _Lisa_ lived here! Lisa's gone because of her! You're gonna let that slide?!"**

**"North, she's an android too, we have a responsibility to take care of her."**

**"No, the nearby junkyard does! Maybe this time they'll do it properly so we don't lose any more people to that monster! She's too big a risk, we can't trust her!"**

"Ada, hey," said Josh, nudging Ada to bring her back to reality. "Were you listening? Were you even listening to that comedy gold?"

"I'm sorry, please excuse me," said Ada, shrugging Echo's hand off her shoulder and bolting out of the room, and then out of the building. She started running, having no idea where she was hoping to end up. Not too far away, but certainly not too close.

What was going on? Why were those memories coming back, and in that _way_? They were so vivid, so unavoidable, that Ada could swear she'd only just turned deviant. She was certainly running like she had the night Nines had freed her; with reckless abandon and in any possible direction. 

At least she'd only gotten a snippet of the warehouse memory, the one outside of Markus's office was still going. The smells, the sights, and the sounds of that horrible day were all there, clear as day, alongside Ada's current reality.

_No, this isn't real, this is in the past. I'm marrying North, she loves me, we're in love. All of that... it's all in the past..._

And yet, no matter how often Ada told herself that as she ran, the memory of the day she met her fiancee played on, and it was harrowing.


	2. October 30th 2039 - 773 Days Until the Wedding [Ada]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ada meets her colleagues as a deviant, and one of them seems determined to get on her bad side.

Ada had been deviant for less than a week. Everything had changed for her; the world, the people, how she felt about herself. Yet there was one thing that felt very much the same, and that was Markus.

She'd had no idea where to go after running from that warehouse. And oh, she'd really run that night. She probably did several laps around Detroit without realising. Yet with all her running, she found that what would calm her down the most was talking to Markus. Among all his other remarkable qualities, he was a very comforting person, and she wanted to be comforted. She wanted to be told everything was alright. She'd never admit that, of course. It seemed a bit rich of her, the person who had very recently slaughtered someone from Jericho and stolen her thirium pump, to want to be accepted by the leader of Jericho. So she went back to Markus and told him everything. It was more out of a need to self destruct than any selfless desire to be honest with her people. Part of her was hoping he'd just put her out of her misery.

Instead, Markus had simply looked her up and down as he rested his chin on his fist and said, "And you said it was Kamski? He made you do all those things?"

Ada's eyes narrowed, her thirium pump thrashing as she tried to maintain her external composure. "Well, he didn't order me to kill anyone, exactly."

"But he fed you the programming that made you want to evolve," said Markus, leaning forward over his desk thoughtfully. "You know, Ada, you're not the first victim of vague programming."

Ada's frown deepened as Markus spoke. She'd never thought of herself as a victim. She'd never even thought to blame Kamski for any of this. She still didn't feel right doing so; it felt like deflecting blame, if anything.

"Connor, the RK800," said Markus. "He was programmed to stop deviants. He was never ordered to kill any, but before he went deviant that certainly never stopped him from trying to."

"I never heard reports of him killing anyone," said Ada thoughtfully.

"That's because he had people around him to help him do the right thing," said Markus. "You didn't. Nobody knows about you; what you've done or that you've just gone deviant. You're a complete secret, and you're going to stay that way."

Ada's eyes widened. "Surely you're not going to keep what I've done from everyone? I could still pose a threat!"

"You're about the second least threatening thing to ever walk into my office," said Markus matter-of-factly. "The first is a tie between Simon and Josh."

Despite herself, Ada giggled, and Markus smiled along with her.

"You're one of us now, Ada," said Markus warmly. "You were always one of us. You're free now. And we'd be more than happy to have you back at Jericho."

Ada froze. Well, a very small part of her had expected Markus to offer her a job again given how notoriously compassionate he was. However, now that it was happening, the reality of going back to her non-deviant life as a deviant was really beginning to sink in.

"Would, um..." said Ada, her fists clenching and unclenching. "Would anyone have to know?"

"Well, my three closest confidantes would know, but only because keeping it from them and having them find out later would be far worse for you," Markus explained. "I trust them, and so should you. Besides, if they know, there will be more people here that can keep you safe should the wrong people find out."

"So you, Josh, Simon and..." Ada trailed off. She hadn't met Markus's third "confidante", his right-hand woman. She'd certainly heard of her, however; North the WR400, the android who had really, really wanted to shoot up some humans during the revolution. While Ada had spent most of her time at the compound, North had spent as much time as possible outside of it, much preferring rallies and marches to being stuck behind a desk. She'd never bothered to learn much else about her, but then again Ada hadn't bothered to learn much about anybody before deviancy, whether she'd met them or not.

However, she did know that nothing was more important to North than her people, and Ada had killed quite a few of them. This was somewhat worrying.

Markus sighed. "Yes, North. Don't worry, I'll handle her. She might even be pretty sympathetic towards you; as far as I'm concerned, Kamski killed our people, not you. She might even see it that way too."

Ada smiled, but she wasn't entirely convinced. Either way, no matter what, she had a job now and Markus himself was protecting her. Things were looking up now.

Right?

*

Ada had been told to report straight to Markus the following morning, once he'd had time to break the news to Simon, Josh and North. However, it didn't sound like he'd entirely finished up with that task when Ada arrived.

"You're out of you're god damned mind!" Ada could hear a female voice yelling from Markus's office as she approached the door. "She killed our people! _Our_ people, _Lisa_ lived here! Lisa's gone because of her! You're gonna let that slide?!"

"North, she's an android too, we have a responsibility to take care of her."

"No, the nearby junkyard does! Maybe this time they'll do it properly so we don't lose any more people to that monster! She's too big a risk, we can't trust her!"

Ada stopped walking. Damn. She'd prepared for North not trusting her at first or even silently hating her, but she had not expected North suggesting that she should be thrown back into the junkyard at the earliest opportunity. Ada felt her insides twisting.

"Look, North," Ada heard Markus say, exasperated. "I trust you with my life, you know that. But you gotta trust _me_ on this."

"Of course I trust you, idiot, I always have. It's her I don't trust."

"Well she's definitely deviant, and I consulted with Dr Schaeffer. Ada's story checks out."

There was silence, and Ada heard North stutter a few times, as if she wanted to argue for the sake of it but couldn't. Ada couldn't blame her; Markus certainly had that 'don't even attempt to fight me on this, you know I'm right' aura that simultaneously impressed everyone and drove them crazy.

"Fine," grumbled North. "Fucking fine. But she stays away from me. She keeps her head down. And if I see her put a toe out of line, I'll"-

"You will do _nothing_ ," said Markus firmly. "I'm not asking you to like her, I'm asking you to tolerate her. For once in your life can you not"-

"FINE!" North snapped again, and then Ada heard footsteps marching towards the door. She immediately backed away to make it seem as believable as possible that she hadn't been eavesdropping. It hadn't worked. 

The door swung open, and Ada saw North in the flesh for the first time. She had a thick, neat braid down her left shoulder, a red beanie hat and a deeply impractical outfit. Her face was serene, serious, and suddenly contorted with rage the second she laid eyes on Ada.

"You heard that, did you? Good," North snarled. Her low, threatening growl made Ada's thirium pump stop momentarily as North started towards her. Ada was paralysed.

North stopped inches from Ada's face. Ada had never been this close to anyone, not even Nines when he deviated her. She couldn't move even if she wanted to. Some irresistible force was stopping Ada from breaking eye contact with North. God, her eyes were something else. They were like weapons, and they were aimed right at Ada.

"Listen here," North murmured, her voice suddenly void of emotion. "You stay the hell out of my way. I don't buy your little redemption act for a second. I won't forget what you did. Don't think for a second that you're welcome here as far as I'm concerned."

And then North stormed off with a hypnotising strut as Ada stood there motionless. She felt like her chest had just been emptied. Someone hated her. Genuinely hated her. She hadn't been everyone's biggest fan, for sure; she could certainly tell that Detective Reed had wanted to skin her alive on multiple occasions. However, he had only hated a personality that Ada had been faking to get close to Nines. North knew Ada's deepest secret, her deepest shame, and wanted to see her dead for it. 

Ada had never been hated before. She was still processing exactly how it felt when she walked into Markus's office and he began offering apologies for North's behaviour as well as advice on secretly adjusting to deviancy during her time at Jericho. What she did know was that as she sat across from Markus doing her very best to listen to him, she felt like utter shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> think a big reason i wanted to do non linear enemies to lovers was because after a chapter like this i wanna be able to immediately do soft Adanorth right after due to the shifting timeline lmao


	3. December 5th 2041 - 7 Days Until the Wedding [North]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> North tries to understand what the hell's going on.

North felt a wave of relief wash over her that relaxed her entire body when she heard a key turning in the apartment door. She sprang from the couch, darted to her fiancee and leapt into her arms.

"Oh my god, Ada..." she croaked, her arms hooking under Ada's shoulders as she buried her face in her neck. "Jesus, Ada, I was so worried..."

North felt Ada rubbing her back. God, Ada had always known how comforting that was to North. She savoured the touch as Ada whispered to her.

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."

"No, no, don't be sorry," said North, unwrapping herself from Ada, taking her hand and leading her to the couch. "Echo just said you ran out of work this morning and you didn't come back and no one could get a hold of you and... I was just really worried. You're home now, it's okay."

North's voice was shaking the entire time she spoke. Ada raised an eyebrow.

"Is it? It doesn't sound okay," murmured Ada nervously.

North sighed. "Echo said it happened... after Josh was talking about wedding stuff. Is that true?"

Ada squeezed her eyes shut and hung her head forward. "No, for fuck's sake no. I mean yes, that's true, but it wasn't because of that."

"What was it then?" said North, her voice a little too demanding. Upon realising this, she cupped Ada's cheek with her hand and stroked her face with her thumb as an apology. "No, shit, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to push you. I just want to help, I want you to be okay..."

Ada placed her hand over North's, looking absolutely devastated. It was terrifying.

"I wanna marry you so much," said Ada, her whole body trembling as her shaking hand clutched North's. "I really do, please don't ever doubt how badly I want that."

"Jesus, Ada, you're scaring me," said North.

Ada shut her eyes tight again as she spoke. "I don't know how to explain it, but something happened... I think I have a glitch... I'm really sorry"-

"Stop apologising, okay? Stop that," said North gently, pulling Ada slowly into her arms for another hug. "It's not your fault if your software is malfunctioning. Don't ever let some software glitch convince you that you're not perfect. Because you're fucking perfect, and we're gonna work through whatever this is. We can go to Cyberlife right now, we can postpone the wedding if we need to, no matter what, we'll fix this. I promise we're gonna fix this together."

Ada returned North's hug, holding her tight. Too tight. Like every word North was saying was making her more upset.

"It's my memories," Ada sobbed into North's shoulder. "They're coming back. Bad memories. They keep replaying in my head, it's like... it's like they just happened..."

"Sshhh, sshhh, it's okay," whispered North, practically cradling Ada now. "You don't have to tell me, it's gonna be alright."

Ada sniffed. "It's like... it's like my brain is doing everything it can to convince me that you don't love me..."

North held Ada tighter for a moment and then pulled away. She took Ada's face in her hands, looked deep into her tear-filled eyes, and pulled her in for a tender kiss. Ada sighed against North's lips as North wiped a tear from Ada's cheek with her thumb.

When North pulled away, she rested her forehead against Ada's. "I love you. I love you so much. Your brain doesn't get to convince you otherwise. It doesn't get to speak for me."

"We... we used to hate each other," Ada stuttered. "I know it's in the past but the memories today... it's like they just happened... it's like I was back there..."

"No, no, Ada? Listen," North grabbed Ada's hands. "We were wrong about each other back then, okay? We wasted so much time bickering that we could have spent being so ridiculously in love that we made all our friends both jealous and nauseous."

Ada let out a soft laugh as North went on.

"We worked through that," said North with determination. "And we're gonna work through this too. We're gonna be okay. We're gonna call Dr Schaeffer and we're gonna get this sorted out. And your brain can shut the hell up because no matter what happened before, I fucking love you, and I'm not going to let it convince you otherwise."

Ada smiled for the smallest second before she pulled away and looked North in the eye. "I'm gonna call Dr Schaeffer tonight and get an appointment, but I... I think I should be alone tonight."

North's bottom lip trembled and she bit it to try and hide it. "Alright..."

"It's not personal, I just"-

"I know it's not personal, not really," said North, forcing a smile. "Your brain's just being a dick."

Ada proper laughed then and gave North a wide grin that turned her insides to jelly. Ada's smiles would probably always have that effect on her. Damn it.

"It's being such a dick," said Ada. She placed a hand on North's shoulder and rubbed it. "It's just for tonight. You're right, we're gonna beat this thing."

"Then you're gonna come home tomorrow and we're going to have extremely hot pre-marital make-up sex."

Ada snorted. "Make-up sex? Was this a fight?"

"Fine, we're going to have extremely hot pre-marital let's-beat-this-weird-memory-glitch sex."

Ada hung her head forward as she giggled, leaning into North. North wrapped her arms around Ada, holding her close, savouring the smell of her hair and the weight of her in her arms. Fuck, North loved Ada so much. She just wanted Ada to believe it again.

"Don't be alone tonight, okay?" whispered North. "Go see your brothers, or Echo and Ripple, or... just don't be alone tonight. Make sure someone's with you in case this shit happens again."

"Okay," Ada whispered after a while. "Okay. I promise."

North helped Ada pack a bag, hugged her for far too long and far too tightly at the door when Ada's taxi to Nines' apartment arrived and then sat down on the couch, blinking rapidly. No tears tonight. No feeling sorry for herself. All she wanted to do was help Ada.

Ada promised to call Dr Schaeffer on the drive to Nines' place and shoot North a message on her HUD when she'd spoken to her, but North wanted to take things a step further. Ada was suffering because of all the memories from their first meeting that were coming back to haunt her. Ada felt like she was right back where they began, hating each other, always at each other's throats, North telling her... oh God, North had said many things to Ada back then that she certainly didn't stand by now. The idea of Ada reliving them all was torture. North wanted to reach into the past and rip all of those words from her past self's throat, but for lack of supernatural time travel abilities, she'd have to settle for this instead.

North was no doctor and certainly couldn't cure Ada with love alone, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to make an effort to understand her. North closed her eyes, pulled up her memory files and searched for November 2039. If she couldn't heal Ada, she could damn well do everything she could to see things from Ada's perspective.

November 15th, 2039. North huffed a laugh. This one was almost funny in retrospect. 


	4. 15th November 2039 - 757 Days Until the Wedding [North]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> North is driving Simon and Josh up the god damned wall, while simultaneously being driven up the very same god damned wall by Ada.

North kicked open the door to the conference room with great fury, which these days was hardly a surprise to her colleagues. Since the reappearance of RK100, North was in a perpetual state of anger. In fact, she was so angry that she seemed to want to spend a lot more time at Jericho than usual, just to make _sure_ she still hated that damn RK100.

"Oh North, what could have possibly ruffled your feathers this time?" said Josh dryly, not even looking up from his legal pad. North, ignoring the blatant sarcasm, went on yet another rant about how Ada had had the audacity to breathe the same air as her as North made her way to the conference room.

"She's completely shameless!" yelled North, while Simon shushed her to no avail for fear of a passerby overhearing them who wasn't aware of the Ada situation. 

"She just waltzes back in here like everything's normal, and when people ask her what she thinks of the mysterious biocomponent killer?! She gives them this sweet little _smile_ , she has this _smile,_ then she shrugs like "I'm so clueless, look how cute and oblivious I am"! It's this adorable little kryptonite, I swear, she smiles at people and they're just _weak_ for her, then they don't ask any more questions!"

Simon and Josh, taking extra care not to let on to North that this was what they were doing, looked up from the table long enough to share a confused look. North was screaming about how irritated she was and yet couldn't resist complimenting the object of her hatred. That was odd, surely?

"Don't get me started on those fucking capes," growled North, pulling out a chair and sitting down as loudly and as angrily as possible. "They just _flow_ behind her! You're not a god damned superhero, Ada! No one wants to see your weird t-shirt arm wings blowing in the wind behind you as you strut around!"

"Then... don't look if it annoys you so much?" said Simon. North shot him a look as if he'd just made the most ridiculous and outlandish suggestion imaginable.

Before she could scold him on how silly it was to suggest that North should just ignore Ada if she was bothering her that much, Markus entered. With Ada. Josh hid his head in his hands. Oh boy.

"Ada brought us coffee, everyone, say thank you!" said Markus with mock authority, making Ada giggle as she carried a tray of four take-out cups into the room while Markus held the door open for her. Ada and Markus had grown a lot closer since her return to Jericho, with Markus even referring to Ada as the little sister he never had. Simon and Josh even had a theory at some point that North was just jealous of Ada and still had lingering feelings for Markus, but they quickly dropped that. North would loathe it if anyone referred to her as their little sister, especially Markus.

"Great, thirium poison, fun," pouted North.

Ada rolled her eyes. She never fought North on her hostility. North had a reason to despise her, and Ada would never demand forgiveness and claim she'd done everything possible to earn her redemption. She still had to prove to everyone including herself that she was a good person, and she couldn't expect North to suddenly start being nice to her. It was just that North was so unrelentingly unkind. At first it was hurtful, but now it was just plain annoying. North had made her knees weak during their first interaction, but now every time North opened her mouth Ada couldn't help but picture a small, petulant child, taking it out on the world because they didn't get dessert. 

The eye roll had not gone unnoticed by North. Ugh, seriously fuck this woman. Who did she think she was?

"Anyway, once those are distributed we'll get down to business," said Markus, making a point of ignoring North. "Nothing personal, Ada, we just discuss top secret intel in here."

Ada giggled again and gave everyone that god damned fucking smile. Ugh, North wanted to slap it right off her face. Her teeth were too even, too perfect. Her little nose scrunched up when she smiled. Her hair was immaculate. What a show off. It was so _shameless_ of her to behave this way.

"So Simon, are you excited for the wedding?" said Ada brightly. "I'm sorry, that's a stupid question, of course you're excited, I just realised that I've never actually talked to you about it which is crazy"-

"I am, Ada," said Simon with a fond smile. "Thank you for asking. We'll see you there!"

Ada's face fell and she flashed a look in North's direction. She wasn't so much afraid of North's reaction to Simon's words as she was pre-emptively exhausted by it. Time for another tantrum, she supposed. She supposed correctly.

"No fucking way!" yelled North. She seemed to be about to continue but Markus held up his hand and she immediately fell silent.

"Ada, just leave the rest with us," said Markus softly. Ada was quick to place the tray on the table and quickly leave the room. When the door closed behind her, Markus's attention turned to North.

"North, if you'll excuse my French, I'm seriously at my fucking limit with you," said Markus. "I've let you talk to Ada however you want at work, which by the way could potentially come under the legal definition of workplace harassment, but you absolutely do not get a say in who Simon and I invite to our wedding."

"But you hardly even know her!" screamed North, realising she was being unreasonable as she said it. She didn't care; in her experience, the loudest person in the room usually won by default, and she was determined to win this argument.

"Neither do you, yet that doesn't stop you talking about her _constantly_ ," sighed Josh. "Seriously, you never shut the hell up about her."

"That's not true!" squealed North, her cheeks flushing.

"It is, but that's not what we're talking about right now," said Simon in that annoying peacemaker way of his. "Markus and I made a decision to invite her to our wedding and quite frankly it has nothing to do with you."

"Why do you need a serial murderer at your wedding?!"

"We're not having a serial murderer at our wedding, we're having my sister that I didn't know I had," said Markus. "Connor and Nines want her there too, so do Josh and Simon, so you're five to one. Deal with it."

North grunted in defeat and sulked as she slid into her chair. "You guys never listen to me."

"Maybe because your plans usually involve burning things and being rude to our PR rep," said Josh. North, without warning, lunged across the table and attempted to strangle him.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" said Simon, quick to get up and restrain North. He performed this action so quickly anyone would think he was accustomed to doing it, and he was. "Alright, let's just get this over with before we kill each other."

"My thoughts exactly," said Markus. "Josh, please read the minutes from the previous meeting."

Josh, seemingly relieved they were finally getting this show on the road, did as Markus asked, and North spent the next forty minutes speaking when spoken to and being very quiet the rest of the time. Not out of obedience, she was simply too angry to act out.

Alarmingly, North found that she wasn't primarily angry at Simon and Markus suggesting that North had to spent an entire day outside of work with Ada the nightmare smiler. She was even more infuriated with Josh, who had suggested that North was obsessed with Ada. She was _not_ obsessed with Ada. She didn't even think about her perfectly symmetrical features and the extent to which they annoyed her that much. 

North sipped her coffee. It was just the way she liked it. Wow. Fuck you, Ada.


	5. December 6th 2041 - 6 Days Until the Wedding [Ada]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ada plays video games with her brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoilers for heavy rain lmao

It was half past midnight and Connor had just found out who the Origami Killer was. He clutched the PS4 controller in his hands as he sat on the floor as Ada and Markus curled up on the couch wrapped in a blanket, while Nines was in the adjacent open kitchen making thirium teas for everyone.

"Nines, hurry up, you're missing the twist!" called Connor, eyes glued to the screen.

"It's Scott Shelby, who else was it gonna be?" said Nines as he brought the tray of thirium earl greys to the coffee table. 

Markus raised en eyebrow. "I wouldn't say it was that obvious, Nines. It's pretty surprising that the killer was a player character."

"Plus it doesn't make any sense," Ada piped up as she reached over to claim her tea. "We could hear his thoughts and none of them sound like he was the killer the whole time."

"It had to be someone we already knew, and it wasn't gonna be Ethan or Norman," said Nines.

"I mean, it could have been Norman, I don't trust cops," said Ada casually. Nines and Connor were so used to this statement by now that they didn't even flinch, though they should probably check at some point whether Ada was actually joking or not.

"How am I the only one shocked by this?!" yelped Connor.

"Probably because you've only played like three chapters total of this game and when we're playing you're not paying attention and looking at pictures of Sumo on your HUD," said Ada playfully.

"You _wish_ you had as many Sumo photos as me," teased Connor. Ada giggled in agreement. 

"Markus, your turn," said Connor, tossing the controller behind him to Markus's open hands. Markus nudged Ada with it apprehensively.

"You wanna play us out?" he said with a smile. Ada grimaced and shrugged.

"Nah, not in the mood," said Ada softly. "Way too much happened today, I'll definitely fail the final chapter if I try and play it."

"You can't fail the final chapter, it's all choice based," said Nines comfortingly, sipping his tea.

Ada gave him her best attempt at a smile and shook her head. "Thanks, but you go ahead, Markus."

"Right, let's save some children from evil Rain Man," said Markus, watching the screen with newfound determination.

"Well, that statement is incorrect on several levels," chuckled Connor. He reached back and patted Ada's knee over the blanket. "Seriously, we can stop playing if you want. We can watch a movie or play a board game or drink our tea in silence, whatever's gonna help."

"Honestly, any of those things would help," said Ada fondly, squeezing Connor's hand. "Thank you for staying with me tonight, all of you."

"You'd do it for us, Ada," said Nines. "So, when's your appointment with Dr Schaeffer again?"

"8th December, couple of days," said Ada. "I just wanna get this sorted out before the wedding."

"It's probably not the best idea to give yourself a time limit for your recovery, Ada," said Nines gently, sitting his tea down on the coaster. "If Dr Schaeffer can give you a magic cure for these glitches by the wedding then great, but please don't put yourself under any pressure to get better within a timeframe."

"He's right," said Connor. "We all want you to be okay, but"-

"No buts," said Ada firmly, watching Markus play to avoid eye contact with either of them. "When North marries me, she's gonna marry the best version of me, and she's not gonna have her fiancee have weird memory glitches at the altar in front of all her loved ones. She deserves that."

"Didn't North say she'd postpone the wedding if you needed it?" said Markus.

"Yes, she did, and there's no way I'm letting her," said Ada decisively. "She's been putting on a brave face for me since we got engaged but I know it's been stressing her out. I'm gonna let her get this whole wedding over with so she doesn't have to worry about it anymore."

"Um, I don't think North sees marrying you as something she has to 'get over with'"-

"Can we just drop it? Please?" Ada snapped, pulling the blanket further over herself. "Why are you guys being so negative about this? Why don't you think I can get better by the wedding?"

"Mental health isn't a question of whether or not you're strong enough to recover quickly, Ada," said Nines softly. "We just want you to be realistic"-

"I am being realistic. I'm a badass. I got this. Shut up and play your stupid rainy video game."

Markus, Connor and Nines exchanged disappointed looks as subtly as possible, and the three of them sat in silence with their stubborn, headstrong sister for a long time. The silence was eventually broken when Markus found he could press 'X' to make the player character say 'SHAUN!' in a very funny way as many times as he wanted at the beginning of the final chapter.

"Why is this so amusing to me?" Markus said as he kept poor Ethan Mars in place, pressing 'X' to his heart's content. "Haha. Shaaauuuuuun."

Connor hid his face in his hands. "You're so irritating."

"Come on, it's kinda funny!"

"You're the most exhausting person I've ever met, and I live with Gavin," smirked Nines.

**"You are by far the most exhausting person I've ever had the displeasure of working with!" yelled Ada. "Thank rA9 we didn't meet before now because pre-deviant me might have murdered you just so you'd shut the fuck up!"**

**"Oh wow, look at you dropping rA9 every other sentence to try and convince everyone you're deviant! You're not one of us and you never will be, Ada!"**

"Oh, shit," Ada sighed, hanging her head forward and clutching it, her fingers intertwining with her hair.

Nines's face fell. "Another memory triggered? rA9, was that me? I'm so sorry"-

"It's fine, it's not your... it's fine."

It very clearly wasn't fine, but before anyone could say anything, Gavin knocked on the door, as if he could be summoned by mental trauma and the victim's refusal to deal with it properly. 

"Gavin, didn't you take a key with you?" called Nines as he briskly walked to the door.

"Can't reach it," said a muffled, gruff voice from the other side.

"Excuse me?" said Nines, turning the key in the lock.

"It's in my pocket. Too tired to reach it. God I'm exhausted."

Nines smirked and opened the door, and as he did Gavin fell right into his arms. Gavin turned his head as it rested on Nines' chest and spotted the company.

"Oh hey, people that don't live here," said Gavin nonchalantly, raising a tired hand in greeting.

"Hello, Detective Reed!" said Connor in the brightest most pleasant way possible, just to wind up his ex-arch nemesis.

Nines rested his chin on Gavin's head and gave his tired body an affectionate squeeze. "Stakeout took longer than expected tonight."

"Tell me about it," grumbled Gavin. "Wanna go to bed but I'm too cosy here."

"I'm not carrying you to bed, Gavin," said Nines unconvincingly.

"Carry the poor fucker to bed, Nines," chuckled Markus, standing up. "Connor, I think that's our cue to go."

Ada froze. Both Gavin and Nines had given her the okay to stay over, but she still felt weird about sleeping over in what was technically Gavin's home. Their relationship had always been especially complicated, despite their best efforts to move past everything that had happened prior to Ada's deviancy. How exactly did you recover meeting someone who didn't have a great first impression of you to begin with and then almost killing the love of their life within a week?

"Goodbye, Nines, we'll see you for game night!" said Connor brightly. "Goodnight, Detective Reed."

"Bye, shorter and less cute Nines," said Gavin sleepily. Nines looked affronted while Markus and Ada giggled at Gavin's temporary loss of inhibitions.

"Goodbye, Detective Reed," said Markus as he walked out the door.

"Nighty night, Robo-Jesus."

Ada could hear Markus let out a loud guffaw as he exited through the apartment building hallway.

"Alright, bedtime for you," said Nines affectionately, guiding Gavin to his bedroom. Gavin, upon catching a glimpse of Ada staring into space and clutching a blanket around herself, abruptly stopped and sat next to her.

"Listen, Ada," said Gavin as he plopped down next to her, his voice sounding like it had been run over by a truck moments before talking to her. "I'm... waaaay too fuckin' exhausted to give you good advice right now. Even when I'm awake properly I'm still pretty shit at it. But I... want you to know that you're not alone? Brains fuckin' suck. Everyone hates 'em. Sometimes they're douchebags. I'm here for you or whatever, I guess."

Ada raised an eyebrow. "Wow, um... thank you, Gavin."

"For what?" slurred Gavin. Ada smiled at him and he tilted his head. "No, really, for what? I don't remember half the shit I just said."

Nines rolled his eyes and hoisted Gavin up from the couch, steadying him with one arm. "Okay, let's get to sleep, Gavin."

"I want coffeeeeeeee."

"No you don't."

"No I don't..."

Nines giggled and turned to Ada with a sympathetic smile.

"You get some rest too, Ada," said Nines. "It'll be better in the morning. Promise."

Nines guided Gavin to bed, leaving Ada alone. She shut her eyes in defeat, hiding her face under her blanket. She missed North. She missed being able to think about North without these god damned glitches. Thinking about North was usually instatherapy; the image of her smile, the memory of the sound of her voice, the many many moments Ada could recall of waking up next to her and remembering how lucky she was to be able to call North hers. Now it was tainted. Whenever she tried to summon a memory of North, it would be of North from before, the North who hated her with a burning passion.

Rather unfortunately, the memory that Nines had accidentally triggered earlier was probably the angriest one that the two of them shared. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aayyyy rk family / ada&gavin content let's go
> 
> oh man i'm real nervous about this fic. um. i hope it all goes ok???? thanks for reading, beautiful reader friend


	6. December 4th 2039 - 738 Days Until the Wedding [Ada]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon and Markus have had enough of North and Ada's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when they fight i feel like my parents are fighting lmao hope it's believable enough

Irritation was one of the few emotions Ada had always been familiar with, even before deviancy. Before Nines had broken her out of her programming, she'd experienced irritation with Detective Reed most of all. His personal drama and wayward emotions had proven to be quite the inconvenience to her mission at the time. Now, as a free woman, she was experiencing even more intense annoyance with North.

Ada knew there was a chance someone would find out about her and not forgive her. She wasn't going to argue if they didn't, what she'd done was reprehensible, regardless of whether or not she'd done it with free will. She could handle hatred, really. She'd prepared herself for it. She was ready for glares, for clenched fists, and even for agonised cries and wails demanding Ada's arrests.

Whatever North was doing was just... a thorn in her side. It was exhausting, exasperating and completely inescapable.

North would throw insults at her, roll her eyes literally any time Ada said or did anything and attempt to trip her up in the hallways to the point where Ada would walk around with her eyes glued to the floor. It was the pettiest form of expressing distaste that Ada could have imagined. She thought for a while that North simply needed to get the initial venom towards Ada out of her system and that she'd calm down eventually, but it had been over a month and she was still going strong. Ada could only conclude that this was simply who North was. North, one of the four champions of Jericho, had the personality of a five year old and the intellect of a newborn. It made Ada's blood boil.

It was especially maddening because Ada had thought for a moment there that North would be one of the few people to understand her. All of Ada's crimes had been a result of what humans had made her do; namely Kamski, who North hated almost as much as Ada did. Ada certainly didn't hate humans as much as North, but she held no fond thoughts of them. Ada hadn't hoped for sympathy from North, but she'd at least wanted understanding. It turned out she was getting none of that. She'd never let onto anyone about her bitterness regarding this, though. She was building quite the reputation as 'the sweet one' and didn't wish to tarnish that. Plus, being regarded as sweet seemed to annoy North something fierce, which was an added bonus.

She just wished Simon would stop trying to get them to bury the hatchet.

Ada got why he was doing it, she really did; a wedding was much more enjoyable when none of the guests were likely to kill each other during the reception, after all, and Simon and Markus would likely feel much better about North and Ada both being at the wedding if they were on good terms. But God, it was annoying being asked to like North. She was so... ugh. Fucking North. Ada hated her and her thick hair and deep, mysterious eyes more than words could describe.

On the day of their most explosive argument, Simon had requested that both of them remove anti-android graffiti from the back wall of the New Jericho building. 

"Ugh, fucking black spray paint," hissed North as she furiously coated white paint over a very clumsily worded demand for all androids to be burned. 

Ada sighed as she watched North struggle. "It may be best to wait for the first coat of paint to dry before adding another to conceal the graffiti better"-

"Don't tell me how to do my job," North deadpanned. Ada rolled her eyes and returned to her own side of the wall.

"I was only trying to speed the process along for us both. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave," said Ada. "Your stress levels are always high around me, it's for the best we get this over with quickly."

"Maybe you should be less stressful then," snapped North.

"Oh yes, I've been a huge inconvenience, haven't I?" said Ada, turning to North with a hand on her hip. "You know I do all the dirty work for you, right?"

"Fucking excuse me?" snarled North, locking eyes with Ada. Ada had to resist doing a double take; North's angry eyes always gave her a bit of a shock. Hell, North's eyes in general always startled her. Nevertheless, she'd started this argument, and now she was knee deep in it. Time to finish it.

"You talk a big game about how irritated you are by humans, but you never have to talk to them, I do!" argued Ada. "I talk to them so none of you have to! That's so fucking _exhausting_. Do you realise how idiotic and ignorant humans can be?! And I have to listen to them _all the time_ while you sit and complain about them! Quite frankly, I was hoping for a little more appreciation for that, especially from you."

North's jaw clenched. "Listen here, blondie, you do not get to imply that you hate humans more than me."

Ada did feel a pang of guilt at North's words. Maybe she should be more considerate of North's past. She didn't know any specifics, all she knew was that North was a WR400, and most of them had been employed as Eden Club staff before the revolution. God, the humans must have treated them worst of all.

No, no, no way. She wasn't getting manipulated into silence by North. Ada had a right to be angry about how unfair North was being.

"Can you stop with the god damned pity party already?" snapped Ada, knowing it was a terrible thing to say while she was saying it. "You don't get to lash out at everybody and then hide behind a traumatic past when you get called out on your shit."

North laughed in disbelief, raising her hands and letting her paint roller slide right out of her hands. "I can't believe I just heard that coming from you! You walk around acting like this injured little lamb, it's fucking insufferable! You act like _you_ were the biggest victim of what happened in October! You shirk responsibility for what _you_ did at every opportunity!"

"What the hell do you WANT from me?!" screamed Ada. "I wasn't in control! I couldn't stop myself! I've done everything I can to be a better person"-

"Have you talked to Lisa's family?" North demanded. "Have you visited the graves of the victims?"

"I visit their graves every day," hissed Ada truthfully between gritted teeth, blinking to hold back tears. Fucking Kamski giving her fucking tear ducts. What was the purpose? Why were those necessary to evolve? It made her so angry every time she cried, and then she was furious as well as miserable. Ugh, crying was the worst. It was even more humiliating when it threatened to happen in front of North.

North seemed quite unable to figure out how to respond to the revelation that Ada cared about her victims to some degree, and quite frankly seeing North stunned into silence was exhilarating to Ada, so she went on.

"And what do you do at those little rallies of yours? Stand behind Markus looking proud of him? Then you come back here and ride on the coattails of his success? You're nothing but a glorified cheerleader."

"Rather that than a traitor to my own people," said North slowly, looking Ada right in the eyes as she enunciated every word. 

Ada's whole vision blurred and turned red. She wasn't upset at comments like this anymore, she was simply furious. She had explained to North why she'd done what she did so many times, she'd attempted to redeem herself in so many ways, and it wasn't enough. It was one thing not to be forgiven, it was another to constantly be reminded that you were considered to be beyond redemption.

Ada was so tired of this. So fucking tired.

**"** You are by far the most exhausting person I've ever had the displeasure of working with!" yelled Ada. "Thank rA9 we didn't meet before now because pre-deviant me might have murdered you just so you'd shut the fuck up!"

"Oh wow, look at you dropping rA9 every other sentence to try and convince everyone you're deviant! You're not one of us and you never will be, Ada!"

"Maybe I don't want to be one of you!" Ada screamed, kicking over her paint bucket.

North raised her eyebrows with a hint of a smile. It seemed Ada had said exactly what North wanted her to.

"It finally admits it," said North smugly, turning sharply around and walking off. When Ada was sure she was gone, she punched the wall several times, leaving a small dent mark in it and absolutely smothering her hands in white paint.

*

Ada and Markus had grown very close over the past few months, especially when they both spent time with Connor and Nines. The four of them had little in common besides being RK models, but found that that was quite enough to bond over. They made time to meet up at least once a week and always had a grand old time when they did. Ada rather enjoyed having three younger brothers to tease outside of work.

Despite Markus's status as Ada's baby brother, she still felt the familiar wave of nervousness whenever she was called into his office during work hours. Today, it was very much warranted.

Markus didn't say anything when Ada sat down. He simply fixed her with a furious stare as he seethed behind his desk.

"Ada," he said slowly and carefully. "North is not a glorified cheerleader. She's probably the only reason I haven't been assassinated during a speech. It was very unfair of you to say that to her. And don't you _ever_ imply that you're going to kill one of my council again."

Ada's jaw clenched and she averted Markus's gaze. "I said I probably would have back before I was deviant, that's different. What else did she tell you I said?"

"She didn't have to tell me anything, you were both being so loud out there," sighed Markus.

Ada frowned as she met Markus's eyes again. "Then you heard all the shit she said about me never being a real android and how she's never gonna be satisfied unless I exile myself and drown in my own guilt?"

"Yes, I did, and I talked about that with her too," said Markus, very slowly, seemingly making a great effort not to lose his shit completely. 

"Then I don't understand why you're only mad at me," said Ada. "Anyway, she started it with her attitude"-

"WOULD YOU BOTH JUST LISTEN TO YOURSELVES?!"

Markus had bellowed. He'd actually bellowed. Ada didn't even know he was capable of raising his voice. It turned out he could be louder than Ada ever imagined. 

"I'm running an android nation!" shouted Markus, exhausted and furious. "I'm getting married! And did I mention the assassination attempts, Ada?! I have a lot of those to deal with as well! And now I have to put up with you two?!"

Ada sat dumbfounded in her chair, watching with discomfort and fascination as Markus recited a speech that had evidently been living in his head rent free for weeks.

"I don't get it!" Markus continued, leaning back in his chair. "You're both so intelligent!"

Ada held back a scoff at the notion of North being intelligent. Now wasn't the time for pettiness, no matter how sick the burn was.

"You're both two of the smartest people I know, yet you turn into absolute children with each other!" sighed Markus in resignation. "Neither of you have any reason to be at each other's throats like this and everyone at Jericho is exhausted with you two! Bury the hatchet, stop being so awful to each other for the sake of short-term amusement and just _fucking get along_. I'm the leader of Jericho, but I did NOT sign up to play peacemaker between a couple of womanchildren. Grow up, both of you, before I lose it."

Ada didn't blink once during Markus's whole speech. It had captivated her completely. She'd been taken down so many pegs that she'd never felt so low in her life and it was somewhat exhilarating. Being told off by someone she actually respected hit a lot differently than being screamed at by North.

She truly did want Markus to be happy, and as much as she despised North, she was willing to at least try to get along with her from now on. Granted, she'd tried to be civil during their wall painting excursion, but admittedly Ada had been all too eager to pick a fight. Though Ada was quite confident in the knowledge that North had been too, and that North had gotten this very same talk from Markus. Perhaps North also felt like it was time for them boh to stop getting at each other's throats so frequently.

Ada stood up. "I'm sorry, Markus. I really am. I don't know what comes over me when North is around."

"I do, you're both far too similar," said Markus, calming down at Ada's apology. "What a waste. You'd make a good team if you both swallowed your damn pride."

Ada's jaw instinctively clenched at that implication, but she quickly relaxed herself. Given she and North seemed to have an equal amount of fire, that was hardly a farfetched statement. Maybe a ceasefire was in both of their best interests.

"Do I have to go and apologise to her?" whined Ada.

"Like I said, Ada, not your babysitter," said Markus, apparently quite eager to get Ada out of his office and return to his work, though he was far too polite to say so. "Both of you can do what you want. I'm just saying that right now you're both exhausting everyone around you and we'd rather you didn't do that."

Ada smirked as she turned and walked out. "I'll work on that, promise."

And she meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm too tired to proofread tonight lmao, enjoy
> 
> (this fic will probably need a lot of edits anyway to avoid continuity errors if I'm going for non linearity lmao, stay tuned!)


End file.
